Call phones from Gmail — Gmail voice and video chat makes it easy to stay in touch with friends and family using your computer's microphone and speakers. But until now, this required both people to be at their computers, signed into Gmail at the same time.

Gmail Phone Calls Are All About Facebook, Not Skype — Google just made it easy for U.S.-based Gmail users to make and receive calls right inside their browsers using technology from Google Voice. — The move has prompted some to speculate that Google is going after Skype …

New Kindle Leaves Rivals Farther Back — Too bad there's not a reality TV show called “America's Most Freaked-Out Tech-Company Meetings,” where you watch classic panicked board meetings. For example, when the Apple employee left an iPhone 4 prototype in a bar.

Digg Version 4 — I'm excited to announce that today we opened up the newest version of our Digg platform. We've been working hard on this next evolution of Digg (what we've been calling “v4") and everyone here is really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the changes we've made.

Digg Trying Hard — Maybe Too Hard — to Stay Relevant — The new version of Digg finally launched for all users today, although the site had some teething problems for much of the morning. It was unavailable for almost two hours, and remained slow for some time afterward …

Why Google Has No Game — A few weeks ago, I wrote Pandas and Lobsters: Why Google Cannot Build Social Applications, a post that dissected why Google doesn't get social. Since then, Google appears to have stepped up its efforts to develop a coherent social strategy.

Google's Nine Year Shopping Spree, Illustrated — For those that remember when Google Voice was GrandCentral ... Other than missing Like.com's acquisition on August 20th and having the DoubleClick grab plotted when Google revealed its intent to acquire in April 2007 and not when the official acquisition …

Thoughts After Y Combinator Demo Day — There's lots of motion in the ocean in the early stage investing world. TechCrunch has a write-up on the companies that presented at Y Combinator's demo day yesterday. I had several of my own thoughts. — Quality — The average company quality is up.

Has Google Purged Places Of Yelp? All Signs Point To Yes. — Well, this is curious. — From our checks, it seems like Google has completely omitted Yelp reviews from Google Places. As you may recall, Yelp has been frustrated by Google's recent decision to pump up its Places service with Yelp's content— without Yelp's consent.

The ABCs of E-Reading — New Devices Are Changing Habits. People Are Reading More, Even While in a Kayak — People who buy e-readers tend to spend more time than ever with their nose in a book, preliminary research shows. — A study of 1,200 e-reader owners by Marketing …

SCVNGR's Secret Game Mechanics Playdeck — Some companies keep a playbook of product tips, tricks and trade secrets. Zynga has an internal playbook, for instance, that is a collection of “concepts, techniques, know-how and best practices for developing successful and distinctive social games”.

Intel CEO: U.S. faces looming tech decline — ASPEN, Colo.—Intel Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini offered a depressing set of observations about the economy and the Obama administration Monday evening, coupled with a dark commentary on the future of the technology industry if nothing changes.

Is this Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 9 interface? — Microsoft has delivered four developer previews of Internet Explorer (IE) 9 so far, but has yet to show off the new interface for its next-generation browser. That is expected to happen on September 15, during Microsoft's beta launch event in San Francisco.

Cell Towers For the Home Work Best in Worst Sites — If you have lousy cellphone reception in your house, you may have wished you had a cellular tower nearby. Well, now you can buy your own and plant it right inside your home. Verizon (VZ), Sprint (S) and AT&T (T) all have started selling gadgets …

Teachbook Vows Facebook Trademark Suit Fight — Social-networking upstart Teachbook said Wednesday it would challenge a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by Facebook, which is demanding the teacher-oriented site remove “book” from its name. — “It's a David and Goliath situation,” …

Bing's Market Share Up 51% In Past 12 Months — Bing's search engine market share has risen 51% in the U.S. over the past 12 months according to Nielsen stats announced today. — According to Nielsen, Bing's market share in July 2010 was up to 13.6%, a 51% jump from its 9% market share in July 2009 …